The Path of Daggers: Chapter 2
Unweaving
Author: Val a'Shain
Characters: Aviendha, Nynaeve, Lan, Elayne, Birgitte, Renaile din Calon, Ispan Shefar, Vandene, Merilille, Moridin, Madic, the Gholam
Setting: The countryside near Ebou Dar
Points of view: Elayne, Moridin, gholam
Elayne's point of view
Elayne steps through the gateway, a group of Warders already scouting ahead. Birgitte is off to the southwest somewhere and clearly not concerned. Aviendha does worry Elayne though. It is clear that the Aiel woman cannot draw much more of the Power. And there is always the chance she'll do something heroically stupid.
As more and more women pour though the gateway, the tensions between the various groups become apparent again. The Kin are nervous around Aes Sedai, the Sea Folk are impatient to get on with the job at hand so they can get their hands on the bowl of winds, and the Aes Sedai want to put Ispan to the question as soon as possible. All of this will have to wait a bit longer, from Elayne's perspective.
Elayne decides to direct her attention to something she can do before everybody is ready to move on. She starts sorting through the piles of rubbish taken from the Rahad storehouse to see if there are any power related objects in it. Slowly a larger pile of rubbish and a smaller of useful objects form. Elayne even finds an angreal, even if it is not a particularly strong one. She keeps that for herself.
Vandene comes over to lecture Elayne on the dangers of studying Power related objects. More than one woman killed or burnt herself out doing so. Elayne insists that she knows what she is doing even if Vandene manages to shake her confidence a bit.
The conversation comes to an abrupt end when Merilille screams. Aviendha has finally stepped through the gateway herself and started the process of unweaving, something that the Windfinders, Kin and Aes Sedai agree is impossible and incredibly dangerous to try. Aviendha maintains that everybody can learn, though. She also thinks it is necessary to do it. After unweaving, the gateway won't leave a residue, meaning they can't be traced using the One Power. Reading residues is a very rare talent; Aviendha has it, though, and she doesn't want to take any chances, especially not after seeing a person watching them leave. The others dismiss this as Aviendha having seen a nosy servant. A bit later, when they leave for the Kin's farm, Aviendha tells Elayne about seeing the person in a sister-to-sister chat. She still doesn't think it was a servant.
Moridin's point of view
Moridin is puzzled by the primitives leaving the stable yard below him. They are so ignorant in some ways, but full of surprises none the less. It looks to him as if they may be carting off some minor power-related objects. Sammael was a fool to risk so much for some unknown ter'angreal. What really bothers him is the unweaving of the gateway he just witnessed. How had the girl done that?
One of his aides, Madic, approaches him with information that he gathered in the city, tales of gold and jewels found hidden in the Rahad. Moridin dismisses those right away. The news about this so-called Bowl of Winds is more disturbing, though. One of the surprising talents of these primitives is their ability to control the weather on a scale nobody in the age of legends had been able to achieve without the help of a ter'angreal. The Great Lord of the Dark had put much effort in freezing the seasons in place. This effort must not be undone.
Rage envelopes Moridin as he reaches for the True Power. He must find these primitives and prevent his master's work from being undone. Opening a gateway, he steps over Madic's corpse, still wondering where they have gone. He must find them.
Gholam's point of view
The gholam steps into the room where the itch he felt originated. It was not the One Power, but something related, something the gholam feels he knows. He feels the power being used miles to the north, but the man who hurt him isn't with them. The man who commanded him wanted both the man who hurt him and the women dead. The women seemed to be an easier target. He will follow them. But first the gholam feeds on the fresh corpse he finds in the room.
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